Rupprath, Baker Set World Records, Benko Smashes American Record on Final Day of World Cup

By Phillip Whitten

BERLIN, Jan. 27. THE 2001-2002 World Cup Tour ended with a bang, not a whimper, today in Berlin as two world records, an American and an Asian record were
wiped out in a frenzy of speed. It was a fitting conclusion to the tour which saw global standards fall at almost every one of the nine stops, spanning four continents.

Germany's Thomas Rupprath lowered his own short course 100 meter butterfly record to 50.10, bring ever closer the first sub-50 second 100 meter fly. The German speedster had taken the world mark to 50.26 last Dec. 14 in winning the event at the European Championships in Antwerp. Australia's Geoff Huegill whose record (50.44) Rupprath had broken last month was second today in 50.84.

The game of Musical Chairs to own the world record for the women's 50 meter breaststroke continued today, when Britain's Zoe Baker recaptured the record she had twice lowered earlier this month. Baker's 30.31 took the mark away from Sweden's Emma Igelstrom, who clocked 30.43 in Stockholm four days ago. Igelstrom was second today in 30.64.

The world record in the 50 breast has been broken seven times in the past seven weeks.

Lindsay Benko came ever-so-close to setting a third global standard when she swam history's second fastest 400 meters freestyle. Benko's 4:00.30 just missed the world mark of 4:00.03, set by Costa Rica's Claudia Poll on April 19, 1997. The time lopped more than two full seconds off Benko's own American record of 4:02.44 set at the Short Course World Championships in Athens in March 2000.

South Korea's Chul Kyu Han clocked an Asian record 14:54.38 in winning the 1500 free by more than 11 seconds. The time sliced a second off the time Han had recorded last week. He remains the only Asian swimmer to have broken the 15 minute barrier.

In other highlights, Ed Moses did not break a world record, but he still won the 100 breast in 57.67 seconds, the third fastest time in history (he has the two faster times), fending off a strong challenge by Ukraine's Oleg Lisogor and Russia's Roman Sloudnov, who tied for second in 57.86.

Britain's Mark Foster took the 50 free, the event in which he holds the world record, in 21.51 seconds, handing the USA's Jason Lezak a rare defeat. Lezak was third in 21.65, right behind Algeria's Salim Iles (21.63).